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A new computational technique could make it easier to engineer useful proteins
To engineer proteins with useful functions, researchers usually begin with a natural protein that has a desirable function, such as emitting fluorescent light, and put it through many rounds of random mutation that eventually generate an optimized version of the protein. This process has yielded optimized versions of many important proteins, including green fluorescent protein…
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Computational model captures the elusive transition states of chemical reactions
During a chemical reaction, molecules gain energy until they reach whatโs known as the transition state โ a point of no return from which the reaction must proceed. This state is so fleeting that itโs nearly impossible to observe it experimentally. The structures of these transition states can be calculated using techniques based on quantum…